Planing to buy a New Apple Mac Pro

[Ravernomina]

Hello all im planing to buy a new Mac Pro. Now im telling you all this because im planing to do a little gaming on this computer with a boot camp of windows Or Linux with Wine. Now im worried that the computer will not be able to play because it will have a integrated Graphics card. Please look over the specs and let me know what you think. :) TYVM!!!!

Mac Book Pro Specs.

Cpu: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53 GHZ

Memory: 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB

Hard drive: 250GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm (gonna try for 7200 RPM)

Screen: 15 Inch Wide screen Glossy

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated

Battery: built-in 7 hour battery with wifi

Wifi: Duel channel Wifi.

I/O: SD card slot, Firewire port 800, USB 2.0 port, Audio In and out, gigabyte Ethernet, and Magsafe charge port


So could you please tell me what you think what type of gaming it could do. Im not looking for like WOAH!!!! GRAPHICS!!!! i just basically wana play the game with a decent look to them (and no im not gonna play crissis) please tell me what you think TYVM!!!Probably. Strategy games, RPG, and Games like roller coaster tycoon and sims.

[pwnst*r]

you left out the important bit. what games?

[Ravernomina]

you left out the important bit. what games?

Im not looking for like WOAH!!!! GRAPHICS!!!! i just basically wana play the game with a decent look to them (and no im not gonna play crissis) please tell me what you think TYVM!!! Probably. Strategy games, RPG, and Games like roller coaster tycoon and sims.

[pwnst*r]

ok, that's why i asked, because the 9400 won't play COD4, Crysis, etc at a good resolution (to me) if at all.

you'll be fine with most strategy, some rpg, and sims games though.

[Pogeymanz]

I'm sure that your system is more than enough to play Sims.

[NCLI]

I repeat the "what games" statement. In any case, a 9xxx-series card should perform decently with new games on medium-quality, IMO.

[zekopeko]

get the one with the 9600M GT card. it's far more capable of running any COD game. 9400 is something along the lines of a beefier intel X4500. so integrated for sake of battery life and HD video playback.

[Ravernomina]

For the record i do not know what games im gonna play. Runescape is another one but any graphics card can play that :P. I just wana get a general Idea of how good the card is without breaking the bank for a $300 dollar upgrade :l.

[zekopeko]

For the record i do not know what games im gonna play. Runescape is another one but any graphics card can play that :P. I just wana get a general Idea of how good the card is without breaking the bank for a $300 dollar upgrade :l.

i guess that googling was very hard...

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards.13849.0.html

looks like the 9600m gt is twice as fast as 9400m. so go for the one with 9400m+9600m gt if you want to have some horsepower to play newer games. i would since you can't upgrade later. and don't forget to get extended warranty.for cash for sure. but safety with hardware that expensive is worth it.

[MikeTheC]

Mac Pros don't use chipset (integrated) graphics. Moreover, they use Xeons, Not Core2 CPUs.

[Ravernomina]

i DID Google. And for another time i just asking for a general opinion for a couple game i listed above. You dont need to get Evil -_-.

[schauerlich]

If you're spending that much on a computer already, why not just get a decent graphics card?

[Ravernomina]

Only have so much money :P


Well i saw some Videos on youtube and it seems that this will do just fine for me :)



Thank for your help :)

Ravernomina

[hanzomon4]

Go for the one with the 9600

[schauerlich]

Mac Pros don't use chipset (integrated) graphics. Moreover, they use Xeons, Not Core2 CPUs.

He made a mistake in the title of the thread. He meant a MacBook Pro. I didn't catch that on my first post either.

[MikeTheC]

He made a mistake in the title of the thread. He meant a MacBook Pro. I didn't catch that on my first post either.

Then he needs to fix that. There's quite a gulf between a MacBook Pro and a Mac Pro.

[conundrumx]

Buying a laptop for anything other than casual gaming is a bad idea. Battery life, heat, performance... it's just not meant to be. It looks like you're eyeing the 15" model, which is a good choice. You should hold off until September if you can, otherwise you'll be shelling out $10 in shipping for Snow Leopard (10.6) when it comes out. In addition to that, it never hurts to wait a month or two after a product hits to dodge any early adopter woes.

[madjr]

for the price of the macbook with a 9400m u can get other laptops with a 9600m for about, usually, same price

but if what you paying for/want is OSX then go for it

[majamba]

get the one with nvidia 9600 it cause 2000 bucks damns its expensive

if you want to play games

i am debating the same thing i have an old macbook with intel i have been wondering if i should spend the money for nvidia graphics card

[MikeTheC]

I'd like to give a few suggestions and advice here at this point, mostly to the OP but also to anyone else here who is thinking about buying a Mac laptop.

First off, if you are a student or teacher or member of one of several other kinds of groups, bear in mind you have access to discounts on your purchase from Apple, whether you buy online or at a store. While the discounts aren't tons and tons of money, the $50 - $100+ is nothing to sneeze at.

Secondly, if you buy online, and this isn't a slam against Apple due to this being a standard procedure in "the industry" you want to make sure you DO NOT customize the system. Buy a stock-standard unit that is as close as possible to your needs. The main reason for this is that, in the event you need to do a return or an exchange, it's a LOT easier to do with a standard model than a customized build-to-order model.

Thirdly, remember that once Apple ships a model with a given version of Mac OS X, regardless of whether the hardware is perfectly capable of handling a prior version of the OS, you will not be able to run it. So, if there's an app you need that's only available for 10.5.x and you bought a Mac that shipped with 10.6, then you'll just have to wait for that app to get rev'd. Now, maybe that'll happen quickly enough that it won't be a problem, but nevertheless, this is a factor.

Usually, for someone who's brand-new to the platform, there's normally zero backwards-compatibility need, and this may be a total non-factor for you or anyone else here. However, it is a fact, and has been a factor for other users in the past.

[conundrumx]

Thirdly, remember that once Apple ships a model with a given version of Mac OS X, regardless of whether the hardware is perfectly capable of handling a prior version of the OS, you will not be able to run it. So, if there's an app you need that's only available for 10.5.x and you bought a Mac that shipped with 10.6, then you'll just have to wait for that app to get rev'd. Now, maybe that'll happen quickly enough that it won't be a problem, but nevertheless, this is a factor.

Usually, for someone who's brand-new to the platform, there's normally zero backwards-compatibility need, and this may be a total non-factor for you or anyone else here. However, it is a fact, and has been a factor for other users in the past.

It seems to me that this would be less of an issue from 10.5 to 10.6 than say 10.3 to 10.4 or 10.4 to 10.5, but I've only been using Macs for about a year.

[MikeTheC]

It seems to me that this would be less of an issue from 10.5 to 10.6 than say 10.3 to 10.4 or 10.4 to 10.5, but I've only been using Macs for about a year.

You're probably right. Usually where you have stuff that breaks is when it falls under one or more of the following:
It's a system-modifier hack thing, such as Kaleidoscope or the "haxies" by Unsanity (I'm not picking on the companies specifically, just using them as an example of a category)
System utility-type applications.
Games (though hopefully with CoreAudio, CoreVideo and other things this can be avoided)
Apps who's developers tried to cut corners with and cheat for one reason or another.

I generally expect good things from the 10.6 environment. The only legacy requirements I personally have will not be impacted in any way by switching from 10.5 to 10.6. Having gone to x86 from PPC has already effectively done all the breaking for me that is going to occur, and as I plan on keeping my existing G4 Mac mini for the time being, this will likely not be a problem.

[schauerlich]

Thirdly, remember that once Apple ships a model with a given version of Mac OS X, regardless of whether the hardware is perfectly capable of handling a prior version of the OS, you will not be able to run it.

I've never heard of that...

Also, seeing as Snow Leopard is supposed to be a slimmed down and sped up version of Leopard, I don't anticipate a whole lot of incompatibilities.

[gn2]

For the amount that the Macbook Pro model you're looking at costs you could probably put together a decent gaming rig and buy a conventional laptop.
You might even have change left over.

[ukripper]

Buy dell instead and put one of the linux distro for spin.

[Ravernomina]

I rather die then use a PC again. Also i need to use photo shop CS4 and im not using windows i rather chop off my hand and eat it raw.

[MikeTheC]

I rather die then use a PC again. Also i need to use photo shop CS4 and im not using windows i rather chop off my hand and eat it raw.
Don't hold back, tell us how you really feel... :shock:

[Ravernomina]

sorry im just so sick of windows :l. I remember when i used vista i kept getting "error generating error report". What OS will really give you that error -_-. So im not using a PC to use Windows just so i can be scared again. I need a Mac with a Ubuntu set-up Cuz im an Linux addict :l